There has been a lot of buzz lately about M&D’s new juice bar, and rightfully so! The menu is fantastic, fresh and perfect for summer. BUT, so is our old fashioned soda fountain. It is so much more than a place to get 
traditional style ice cream sundaes and soda floats, it’s a piece of history and a wonderful story.
The traditional soda fountain really made its impact at the turn of the 20th century. In fact, by the early 1920s, nearly all of the drugstores in America had a soda fountain. In fact, soda fountains were likely a solution to the social void left by the closing of bars during the Prohibition Era. There’s even a 1920’s article that went as far as to say, “The bar is dead, the fountain lives, and soda is king!”
I guess we should really thank Jacob Baur for manufacturing carbon dioxide in tanks. That’s the basis of a soda fountain after all. Purchase a “Liquid Carbonic soda fountain” and a recipe manual from Baur and BOOM! You’ve got yourself a business.
But beyond a successful business venture, these soda fountains were viewed as an over-the-counter cure for physical ailments for quite some time as well. Many of the drinks that were served actually contained drugs like cocaine and excess caffeine to treat headaches. However, they were eventually deemed habit forming and in 1914, the use of cocaine and opiates in any over-the-counter products became illegal in the Harrison Act.
Baur, the tanked carbon dioxide guy, wanted to combat the negative reputation that began to form around soda fountains. So he created an advertisement describing his beverages as non “medical, won’t cure anything … it isn’t intoxicating or habit forming – it’s just flavor, fruity, snappy, sparkling, and delicious.”
(Grab a soda from our soda fountain. That description still works today!)
Unfortunately for all of us, the drugstore soda fountain craze pretty much collapsed in the 70s.Did you know that there used to be a soda fountain in the pharmacy that occupied the space of our new bar? In honor of that history, former pharmacist Vince Moreno provided us with many of his old pharmaceutical bottles that now decorate the bar, and we even have his drugstore sign front and center. But perhaps the most honorable and fun tribute to the old pharmacy is the soda fountain itself in the bakery.
Perhaps the best thing about the soda fountain is the sense of community that can form around it. Need a place to meet a friend to catch up? Feel like taking your family out for dessert after a nice meal? Want to impress a first date with something unexpected and fun? The soda fountain is the perfect answer. It’s a place to sit, talk, hang out and be a kid again. And it’s the perfect place for current kids to gather in town too.
Take advantage of this tasty bit of history. I invite and encourage you to not only order one of the many “fruity, snappy, sparkling, and delicious” sodas from our bakery girls, but also watch them make it. Or ask for a chocolate malt shake … my personal favorite. It doesn’t matter what you order, take a trip to the past with us, I promise you’ll have a good time.
Rebecca McKinney
I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost, to share tips, tricks, and knowledge about the food and beverage industry in general but also to help people see a different side of the restaurant world. Every restaurant has a totally unique culture and world within it. I want to help open people’s eyes to more than how fast the service is or how easy or hard it is to secure a reservation.
So, thanks for stopping by! I welcome your ideas, input, and feedback and hope you enjoy!
Eat well & travel often,
Becky McKinney
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